Sincerely, Her: Analysis of Authorship and Genre in Women's Diaries

Abstract

Diaries have been used for centuries by women as a place to engage in writing their daily activities and emotions. The genre differs from other circulated genres as the authors are writing without a large, identified audience or publication in mind. This difference changes how diary authors engage with the genre. While diaries have been commonly researched and studied for their connections to daily accounts of historical or personal moments, thispaper attempts to connect the diary genre with larger rhetorical conversations of what makes an author. Using an autoethnographic approach to diaries, I centered my research through my own experience of having my diary read and my curiosity as to why there wasa disconnect between diary writing and other genres of writing. Through defining the diary genre, examining rhetorical literature concerning authorship, and analyzing four diaries spanning from 1851-2022, this research concluded with a new way to define authorship for unpublished authors. This research aims to emphasize and legitimize the role female diary authors have within writing and rhetoric studies.